SALESTAXTOTALSSUGGESTGAIN

Sales tax collections by Douglas County merchants indicate that the local retail community was doing more business during the second half on 1991 than it had a year earlier.

According to figures released this week by the Kansas Department of Revenue, local collections of the state-imposed 4.5 percent tax on sales were up 9.44 percent in November over the total for the same month in 1990.

Douglas County merchants forwarded $2,072,751 to the state during the month, compared with $1,893,956 in November 1990.

Perhaps more representative are figures for the first five months of the state's fiscal year, which begins July 1. During the July-November period, Douglas County merchants collected $10,290,626 for the state, compared with $9,820,463 in 1990, for an increase of 4.79 percent.

Because a monthly total includes only those tax receipts forwarded to the state in a timely manner and also may include taxes that actually were collected during a previous month, year-to-date totals generally are considered a more reliable indicator of a county's retail economy.

WITH THE sales tax collections reflected in the November report, Douglas County maintained its position as the fifth-largest retail economy in the state.

The four county's that rank higher than Douglas, their totals for the July-November period and the percentage change over the comparable 1990 period are: Sedgwick, $66,676,056, up 5.38 percent; Johnson, $61,116,396, up 4.9 percent; Shawnee, $24,087,975, up 3.37 percent; and Wyandotte, $15,132,078, down 0.27 percent.

The November sales tax report also showed that the city of Lawrence collected $522,293 from its 1 percent sales tax during November, compared with $412,536 a year earlier. That is an increase of 26.6 percent.

FOR THE July-November period, collections of the Lawrence sales tax totaled $2,652,279. A year earlier the total for the five-month period was $1,429,743.

However, the report does not include year-to-year comparisons for the five months because the city increased its sales tax from 0.5 percent to 1 percent in October 1990.

Area cities that impose a 0.5 percent sales tax, their November totals and the percentage change from a year earlier are: Eudora, $4,339, up 14.99 percent, and Perry, $1,768, up 27.96 percent. For the five months, Eudora collected $19,364, a 4.5 percent decrease and Perry collected $8,668, a 2.33 percent increase.

For November, Tonganoxie, which levies a 1 percent local sales tax, collected $14,175, up 16.6 percent. For the July-November period, the city's receipts totaled $75,181, up 1.75 percent.

BALDWIN and DeSoto also levy a 1 percent local tax, increased from 0.5 percent earlier in 1991, so year-to-year percentage comparisons aren't included in the report.

For November, Baldwin collected $6,901; in November 1990 the total was $4,008. For the five months, Baldwin's total was $30,744; a year earlier it was $19,700.

DeSoto's November total was $8,283, compared with $3,744 in 1990. The city's five-month total was $39,513; in 1990 it was $23,596.